They Came from the East: Prologue
by RevvEmUp
Summary: Third 5E spin-off prologue. After the alliance between Shin Akavir and Tamriel was made, Tsaesci and Akaviri humans have started immigrating to Tamriel. We follow the story of a Tsaesci and an Akaviri human as they arrive on Tamriel.
1. Chapter 1

My name is Ingrid Bone-Crusher, former Imperial battlemage, and former Companions mercenary. It was a snowy night in my cheap Winterhold apartment when I was searching for jobs online and I found an unusual ad: "Custodian for the College of Winterhold. Requires military training and average experience in Conjuration." it read. I lived in the inner district fairly near to the College so I went there after accepting the ad. There, I was stopped by the security guard when I walked to the road entrance. He was a tall, gruff Nord man with a shaved head and scars all over his face.

"It's late, what are you doing here?" he asked. "I'm here for the janitor job." I answered. "You sure you want to do that?" he asked nervously. "Y-yeah, I am. Can you let me in?" I asked. He went back into his booth, lifted the barrier and said to me, "May your path to Sovngarde be true.", it worried me a little.

I went to the receptionist in the main campus building. I walked to the Dunmer receptionist woman, who looked tired. "I'm Ingrid Bone-Crusher. I'm here for the janitor job." I said. "Hold on." she said before she grabbed a phone and placed it to her head. "The Arch-Mage is waiting for you." she informed me.

"The Arch-Mage? Is the job that serious?" I asked. "Yes, it is." a raspy voice answered from behind me. The Arch-Mage, an ancient Falmer; pale, hunched back, wrinkly skin, sealed eyelids, and incisors filling his mouth, clad in a white suit and robes approached me. "The role of a custodian in the College is more perilous than the role of a librarian. You must be adept in driving away Daedric forces, disposal of reality-bending solutions, and surviving while doing so." he explained. "It's late right now so come back tomorrow." The Arch-Mage said as he looked at his watch.

He then conjures a stack of grey clothes and a cap onto his arms and handed them to me. "You're technically not hired, not until you have displayed your prowess. Tomorrow around twelve is a conjuration class in one of the laboratories. We never released this information but almost every Tirdas a student would make a grave error in their conjuration experiments, a perfect test for you." he continued. "Thank you sir, I won't let you down!" I saluted. I left the campus with a feeling of both hope and despair. The next day at around seven in the morning I arrived at the campus once more and followed a map to the broom closet.

I met up with two other janitors; an Orc and a Fabricant, a rare sight nowadays. "So you're the new blood. Welcome to janitorial duties. So, where did you train?" the Orc asked. "Ingrid Bone-Crusher, I was a legionnaire and a shield-sibling in the Companions." I answered. "I'm Gurdan, Ex-Brotherhood. Erono over there… I'm not quite sure. He was here long before I was, it doesn't help that he rarely talks. Anyway, get dressed, we've got a long day ahead of us." the Orc explained. I got dressed in my grey jumpsuit and as I put on my boots the speaker yelled "Toilet clog in floor seven, east wing, men's." and I equipped myself with a plunger and made my way upstairs via the elevator.

Around twelve as mentioned, a boom was heard from the labs in the west as I was dusting the library. I dropped my duster and ran outside. I arrived outside the lab building, dark aura emanating from the windows, students fleeing, and seeker Daedra everywhere. I ran inside and found the other two were already there, Gurdan tossing me a broom. "Use this!" he exclaimed as he pulled apart a seeker with his bare hands.

A seeker ambushed me and by instinct I pointed the broom and the creature was electrified. I ran towards the lab, fending off seekers and kicked open the door. The lab was dark and seekers were pouring out of a spherical Oblivion portal. I hid behind a cabinet and sneaked my way into the gate. I entered the gate after dodging seekers and found myself in the plane of Hermaeus Mora; Apocrypha.

I was in an area with web-like floors made of an unknown material, small cyclones of paper, and unnaturally tall stacks of books. In the middle of the insanity was a sigil stone on top of a pedestal, guarded by tall humanoid fish Daedra known as lurkers. Without any option I charged at the Daedra and smacked the first one I saw with the electrified broom repeatedly until it was ash. The others loomed over me and when all my hope was lost, one of their heads blew up. Looking behind I saw the Fabricant wielding an enchanted shotgun.

"Hi." he said in a monotonous electronic voice. The lurkers charge at him, giving me a chance to remove the stone. I took the artefact and ran towards the destabilizing portal, grabbing Erono by the collar on the way. We jumped back into Nirn as the portal burst into purple sparks. We exited the lab and saw Gurdan piling seeker corpses under the dim Winterhold sun.

"You've proven yourself, Miss Bone-Crusher. That was an impressive feat you accomplished." a voice said from behind me. The Arch-Mage appears, dispelling an invisibility spell. "Sir!" I saluted. "Stop that, you're not in the military. I saw your bravery out there, charging straight into the portal. But going alone was risky, that needs work." Gelebor criticized. "Thank you, Arch-Mage." I said proudly.

He then conjured a document and a pen onto his hands. "This is your contract. Take a read, and then sign at the bottom." he said as he handed the contract to me. I took a long read and was a little concerned, but knowing the risks I signed, then handed it back to the Arch-Mage. This is probably either the best decision I made, or the worst.

To be continued...


	2. Chapter 2

My name is Tomari Toshiro. I used to work as a robotics engineer for a mining company in the underground city of Shin Akavir. When the Emperor announced an alliance with another empire named Tamriel after a millennia-long war with the Ka Po' Tun I decided to travel to find more opportunities for me. I didn't have to pack many things as my ancient apartment was already stocked. I had some basic amenities and a ticket to Tamriel.

I joined a gathering crowd walking to newly-built TelePads, platforms that teleports objects and people to another. After a few hundred people or so, including me walked on the platform we were teleported to the surface and saw palm trees, sand, and the real sun, shining on our faces. We were guided by guards to a makeshift dock manned by Akaviri people, and Tsaesci; creatures resembling humans with their lower body being that of a snake tail. Our ships were repurposed battleships built by the Ka Po' Tun, a fierce race of humanoid tigers. They were decommissioned after they were replaced by airships and their dragon serum.

Groups that emerged from the TelePads boarded the ships, hundreds by hundreds. There were a series of horns from the ships as we set off. I was a bird among cats as the ship had mostly Tsaesci and only a handful of humans. I went to the bow of the ship and leaned against the railing, observing the water being split by the ship's knife-like hull. Next to me was a male Tsaesci holding a picture, an egg incubator holding three large eggs, and his luggage next to him.

"[What's that you have there?]" I asked nervously in my native tongue as I pointed to the incubators. "[My offspring.]" the Tsaesci answered with a tired, raspy voice. "[Is that your wife with you?]" I asked, pointing to a well-built Tsaesci woman next to him in the picture. "[Yes… she is. She decided to stay behind and help the others recover from the airship crash.]" he answered with snake-like hisses. The disaster he was referring to was when a Ka Po' Tun airship crashed into the remaining Tsaesci settlements and were saved when a Tamrielic doctor arrived and warned everyone to retreat underground.

A week later, we finally arrived in Tamriel at one of its eastern provinces; Morrowind. I will spare you the boring details of customs and immigration. After hours of waiting, I finally checked out and exited the immigration building and saw a city with a towering mushroom and spiralling sand yellow skyscrapers under red skies. "What's to come now?" I thought. I approached the rest of the passengers in an assembly area near the parking lot of the dock where a red humanoid reptile-like creature wearing green army fatigues was standing in front.

Strangely, he was speaking in our native tongue as if he was one of us. "[Welcome to Tamriel, or Dawn's Beauty in the ancient language of the Aldmer. My name is Hunts-Shadows; I am an Argonian one of the races that inhabit Tamriel. I will be your guide to _New Vvardenfell_.]" the creature said enthusiastically. We all followed him across the pavement to a convoy of white buses similar to the ones in Akavir, but strange devices replaced the wheels, enabling them to hover. We boarded the buses and as the last man entered, the buses were lifted up into the air. "[Don't worry, this is normal. In Tamriel we have developed flight capabilities in cars, buses, and certain trucks. We developed this because of the increasing traffic. Instead of building more roads, _Hammar Industries_ developed devices that allow levitation on land vehicles. Our next stop is New Balmora, a city southwest of here.]" Hunts-Shadows explained.

The buses rise above the city, joining fleets of insect-like cars, zipping across the sky as fast as drift racing cars. "[We previously developed another form of air transport that can fly higher; the airplane. They can carry hundreds of people at once and are faster than the average flying car. The flying car can only fly below the stratosphere to separate traffic.]" he continued. "[I imagine some of you don't know half of what I'm saying, but you will learn later on about the atmosphere. We will arrive in New Balmora very shortly.]" he continued. We sat quietly and gazed in awe at the towering mushrooms. "[These are _Mage Towers_ built by House Telvanni, one of the organizations that make up Morrowind's government. They practice magic, scientific research, and industry. They produce a variety of machines and vehicles from Hammar Industries, their commercial industry division.]" Hunts-Shadows explained.

We soon arrived at New Balmora, a city on the southwest coast of the island. We disembarked the buses when they slowly landed in front of a museum. "[This is _Vvardenfell_ Museum, a museum of events and artefacts from Vvardenfell. The curator will now guide you around the museum and learn our history.]" Hunts-Shadows said. He boards the bus again and the convoy flies away as a grey-skinned Elven woman with blood red eyes, wearing a blue business suit approaches us. "[My name is Alvera, the curator of the Vvardenfell Museum. I am a Dunmer, or Dark Elf in Tamriellic. Follow me inside.]" the strange woman said in rough Akaviri, I can understand what she's saying but she's pronouncing certain words wrong.

Inside, we were greeted by strange architecture, paintings, and ancient weapons. I was fascinated with their rich history and was curious of what the other provinces have to offer. In accordance to a cultural exchange program by their government I and some others were flown to the mainland where I was escorted by an agent to a suburban neighbourhood at the edge of their capital. We approached a house and its occupant, a bearded man in his 30s wearing a red T-shirt and shorts, emerged. "Hi, my name is Cal! What's yours?" the man introduced himself in Tamriellic. I didn't understand what he said.

To be continued...


	3. Chapter 3

It was a cold winter night in Winterhold. I was on my way home from the College; I work as the janitor there. It's more exciting than it sounds; I wrestled some daedra one of the students conjured. That's just another Tirdas to me. I returned home to my house near the city's south edge.

There was a program to temporarily host Akaviri immigrants, so I joined for curiosity. I wonder what Akavir's like there. I walked up and opened my front door and I saw the representative I met and what I presume is a local from Akavir. He was… unusual; his upper torso was a well-built man with long black hair, but the rest of him is a snake tail. His face resembled one of the Akaviri, but there were slits on his cheeks like those on snakes, which makes sense now that I think about it.

"He looks like he's gonna be trouble." I thought. "Miss Bone-Crusher? You've been awfully quiet. Are you okay?" asked the female Dunmer representative. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Who's our guest?" I asked worriedly. "This is… how do you say your name again?" the rep asked. "Shidak-Charn." the man answered.

To be honest I expected an Akaviri person, but not… him. "I will leave you to it then." the rep said as she stood up. She grabbed her coat from the coat stand and left. I stared at him nervously. "Hello, my name is Ingrid." I introduced myself.

He then replied in a strange language. "Can you speak Tamrielic?" I asked. "Little." he answered. "I guess I'll show you your room." I said nervously. I walked upstairs as he slithered behind.

"What brings you to Tamriel?" I asked nervously. "Tsaesci have no home. I left Avakir to find another home. Partner stayed behind to care for the injured." he explained. "Is Tamrielic a second language in Akavir?" I asked as we stopped in front of the guest room door in the hallway. "Yes." he answered. "This is the guest room. Set up your belongings here." I said as I opened the door.

"Question; how do you feel about children?" he asked. "W-why do you ask?" I asked nervously, complete with a nervous grin. "I came here with three eggs. They hatch soon." he said. I kept my nervous grin as I walked downstairs. I entered the kitchen and took a bottle of mead from the fridge and sat down at the table in front of the fridge.

I took a swig of the bottle and laid my head on the table. Shidak-Charn then approached me with a worried face. "Is my appearance bothering you?" he asked. "Yes!" I replied bluntly. "I can leave if you want." he said.

"No… you can stay. Just don't sneak up on me in the middle of the night. By the way, why come to Winterhold? Or even Skyrim for that matter? Tsaesci are cold-blooded, right?" I asked. "I wanted to see the College." he replied. "You came to see the College, but stayed. Why?" I asked, drunk. "I want to see magic and meet people." he answered. "If you're going to meet people around here, you need proper clothing for this weather." I said.

"Should we do this tomorrow?" he asked. "This Loredas. I still have work for the next three days." I said tiredly. "You don't work on Loredas?" he asked. "Has Akavir never heard of weekends? We take breaks from work and study for two days: Loredas and Sundas." I explained sleepily. After I finished my bottle, went upstairs, changed clothes, brushed my teeth, and went to bed, but it took forever to sleep from the mead.

I woke up and got out of bed, then went downstairs and found Shidak-Charn coiled on my couch. It looked like he was buried under a pile of snakes with his head sticking out from the nose up. I proceeded to go to the kitchen to cook breakfast. I had some salmon and bacon so I made some bagels with them. I walk back to the living room to wake up Shidak-Charn.

"Hey, wake up." I said as I nudged his head. He uncoiled himself slowly and fell off the couch, hitting his head on the coffee table. "Ow!" he cried. "I made breakfast. Ever had salmon bagels?" I asked. "No. What is it?" he asked.

"It's thinly sliced fish and cheese between bread. We make circular bread with a big hole in the middle in Tamriel." I explained. The ones I made used a bagel with a radius bigger than an Orc's grin, an even spread of cheese, but a contrasting amount of salmon. "What is cheese?" he asked. "Cheese is made from animal milk. In Skyrim we make cheese from mammoths and cows." I explained. "How is it you never heard of cheese?" I asked.

"I come from hunting village. We eat meat. We also have bread." He answered. "Well let's get into the kitchen and eat." I said. We both go into the kitchen and sit down, or in Shidak-Charn's case; trying to sit down. He tries to sit on the simple wooden chair, but his tail takes up most of the space and limits his movement. "You okay?" I asked.

"Yes… no… maybe…" he says as he struggles trying to find a comfortable position. "This is a little awkward…" I said as I rolled my eyes away from my food. He moves the chair away and coils his tail in a way that his torso is upright and nearest to the table. I giggle a little bit as I put the bagel to my mouth. "How do you eat this?" he asked.

"You put it in your mouth with your hands, just like any other food." I replied. He opens his jaw and I stared at him when the corner of his mouth stretched, revealing a thin membrane as he swallowed the bagel. "You're supposed to chew." I corrected him. "Chew?" he said, confused.

To be continued in "They Came from the East"...


End file.
